18 October 2005 – Philippine Ambassador to Madrid Joseph Bernardo y Medina reported to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo that the remains of OFW Ivy Collantes Bautista would arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, 20 October 2005, on board Lufthansa Airlines flight LH 0788.

With this information, Secretary Romulo instructed Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Jose S. Brillantes to inform the next of kin of Ivy in Manila of the arrival date and to extend assistance in facilitating the release of the cargo from the NAIA.

Undersecretary Brillantes said that according to the report by Ambassador Medina, the funeral wake for Ivy took place at the Funeraria Montañesa in Santander on Sunday, 16 October 2005, and was attended by her relatives and friends in Santander.

Ambassador Medina added that Honorary Consul General José Luis Gamarra of the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Bilbao sealed the casket containing Ivy’s remains on Monday, 17 October 2005.  The casket was then flown from Belabor to Frankfurt, Germany, on Tuesday, 18 October 2005, and then from Frankfurt to Manila at 10:10 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday, 19 October 2005.

Undersecretary Brillantes said that the remains of Ivy will be met at the NAIA by Ivy’s husband Crisanto Bautista, mother Demetria Collantes, and other members of Ivy’s family.  Undersecretary Brillantes has held a series of meetings with Ivy’s family at the DFA to update them of the assistance being extended by the Philippine Government and the Embassy in Madrid regarding the investigation and the return of the remains to Manila.

The Undersecretary added that representatives of the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration will be at the airport to assist Ivy’s family in claiming her remains.

OFW Ivy’s body was found by her employer in a room inside their house in Santander on 27 September 2005.  Santander police reported that the results of the separate examinations by two forensic experts on Ivy’s remains and the site of the incident have shown suicide as the cause of death. (Please refer to Press Releases SFA-AGR-761-05, 17 October 2005; SFA-AGR-715-05, 4 October 2005; SFA-AGR-709-05, 3 October 2005; SFA-AGR-702-05, 1 October 2005; and SFA-AGR-699-05, 29 September 2005 for the background information).  END